name

If you have ever talked to a Jehovah's Witness, they very possibly asked you what God's name was. If you said God or Lord they would have said that it is in fact Jehovah. They would also say something on the order of you cannot have a personal relationship without knowing God's real name.

Jehovah is found in I believe four places in the King James version of the Bible. I have not seen it's use in any recent translations except the Watchtower's New World Translation.

In the Old Testamant Gods name is YHWH. Virtually all bible scholars today recognized this word as Yahweh, not Jehovah as the Watchtower does.

If God's name is not Jehovah, where did the name come from, and how did it get into the King James version? In short the vowels of the Hebrew word Adonai were superimposed over the Hebrew word YHWH.

I am going to quote the word Jehovah from 'The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible' 1962. "JEHOVAH. An artificial form, often attributed to Petrus Galatinus in ca. A.D. 1520, which results from the combination of the consonants of the Tetragrammaton (see YAHWEH) with the substitute vowel reading which was introduced when the MT was fixed during the sixth-seventh centuries A.D. The pre-Masoretic text was consonantal, vowels being suplied by the reader from a knowledge of the language. In the postexilic period (after 538 B.C.). however, the sacred name was withdrawn from popular usage for fear that it would be profaned. Of the various sbstitues that were employed, the chief was "Adonai" ("Lord"), the vowels of which the Masoretes as a rule added to the consonants "YHWH" to indicat that "Adonai" should be read. The combination of the two-the Tetragramaton and the vowels of "Adonai"-yields the artificial name which appeared in early editions of the KJV. The RSV following ancient synagogues practice, renders "the LORD.""

I am now going to quote the word Tetragrammaton from 'Harpers Bible Dictionary', 1985. "Tetragrammaton; Gk., the Sacred, the designation for the four Hebrew consonants YHWH that comprise the name of Israel's God (Exod. 3:15; 7:2). The name itself was considered by the Hebrew's as too holy to utter so the word "Lord" (Heb. adonai) was substituted when the text was read. The hybrid word "Jehovah" is a combination of the vowels of "Adonai" with the consonants of the tetragrammaton; its appearance in the KJV was the result of the translators' ignorance of the Hebrew language and customs."

Here is a link to an article on a site about the NIV bible. YHWY Sabaoth: "The Lord Almighty"

As you can see the word Jehovah was a mistake by the translators of the KJV. This can be found in any Bible Dictionary.

If you confront a witness with this fact they will say that people wrote this because they don't like witnesses. If you believe this you need to go to your local library and study some bible literature.